Anorexia Nervosa, A serious mental disorder, where people (usually females) have a strong need to lose weight, a feeling that they're never good enough, often self-inducing starvation, excessive exercise, and many times engaging in other self-destructive behaviors.
People do not realize that Anorexia is a disease, and lord knows that if I could just "get rid" of it I would. It is HELL.

DSM-IV criteria include:

-Failure to maintain a minimally healthy weight, feeling they are too fat even though underweight
-Anorrhea(Loss of 3 or more consecutive mestural cycles)

Health Risks include:

anemia
osteoporosis
malnutrition
hypoglycemia
loss of hair
lowered body tempature
Lanugo (growth of fine hair on the back and arms due to lack of fat to warm the body)
dark bruises around the eyes due to protien deficiency
ulcers
tearing of the intestines due to lack of food

It's a DISEASE you retards. Someone with the disease can't just start eating like normal. For those of you who say it's only for rich teen girls with low self esteem, you're way wrong. It can stem from many things. So I suggest you keep your mouth shut if you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

Idiot: DUDE ANOREXIAC PPL NEED TO GET A LIFE AND JUST EAT ITS NOT TAT HARD
Person who knows what they're talking about: Shut up. You don't know shit.

anorexia is an eating disorder. although comonly mistaken as a self-inflicted diet plan, it is not. in fact, anorexia is a complicated disease often cause by poor self-confidence, unrealistic body image, a cry for attention, or the need for control. friends and family who feel a need to help often comment in several ways; sometimes they flatter the person about how thin they are, sometimes going as far as to tell them they should gain weight because they are too thin, other times they comment how they haven't eaten lately and should. though most comments are provoked by worries and concerns it is often better to wait for the anorexic to confide in them. if they trust you, they will. and when they admit they need help they will ask for it. forcing a person to eat or maintain a certain body weight is the worst way to attempt to help.

anorexia is a very serious and very personal problem. help your family and friends but be careful not to lose them in the proccess.

Anorexia Nervosa is a severe eating disorder that afflicts primarily young women, although men are also known to suffer from it.

Anorexia (from the Greek a- without; and orexis- appetite) is merely a symptom of Anorexia Nervosa in which the victim feels, largely from poor role-models, that they must become bone-thin in order to be considered attractive or to be accepted. From there, they abolutely refuse to eat, for fear of gaining too much weight and then being unable to lose it; they excercise constantly, trying to flush the fat (or lack, thereof, in most cases) from their bodies.

In some extreme cases, a layer of fur will grow on the sufferer's body to keep him/her warm; because they have lost so much body fat, they can no longer insulate themselves.

Many sufferers even hear a voice in their heads telling them how fat they look (despite the obvious fact that they are sickly and wasted away to almost nothing), thus further discouraging them.

Like depression, anorexia nervosa and bulimia are not things that one can "get over". They are illnesses that require help. And poor role-models from the media, from peers, and from parents make the problem worse.

Barbie would be anorexic if she were a human... she wouldn't even have the 17 to 22% of body fat required to menstruate. If she were human, she'd have to be 7'2'', 130 pounds, and 40-18-33. Hell, she'd have to crawl on all fours just to support her unnatural proportions.

Misinformation: Anorexia was the ancient Greek goddess of withering and starvation.

A mental disorder where a person feels a strong desire to lose weight. Contrary to belief, when an anorexic person looks in the mirror they don't see something different. They see themselves, but in an extremely over-analyzed way, and they focus in on the fat that they have. It's not about being fat, but HAVING fat, rather. For most people with anorexia, getting rid of fat is getting rid of failure and 'becoming pure'. These people usually are perfectionists in one way or another. A lot of them also have a lot of trouble saying no, and are afraid of not pleasing those around them.

Anorexia is different from dieting. It is not self-induced. It is not caused by looking at pictures of Nicole Richie and deciding that you'd like to be glamorous and look just like her. It's a disease which is, basically, hell.